It’s funny living here, because I am gradually coming to understand why Amazon sells food. In the UK it made no sense to me. I mean, very very occasionally I’d find something that I couldn’t get locally, but it was pretty rare. But of course, as I’m coming to realise, I lived in Bristol. Bristol is a food city. There is such a phenomenal range of foods available there (and the quality!). And unlike the US which seems stymied by the fact that chain superstores are everywhere with their pathetic range of foods, but their simultaneous ability to be convenient to the point that shopping anywhere else seems like a lot of hassle… in Bristol there are a lot of small, independent grocery places in close proximity, meaning that when you decide you want Spelt flour there’s a whole bunch of shops that have it, and that are no hassle at all to get to. And to be honest, even Sainsbury’s had it, as I recall.
The massive range of the shops around them forced the supermarkets to adapt and broaden their range. I mean, we still have the same problem here that we had in the UK, that there are 480 varieties of frickin’ tomato sauce mix. Lots of choice in the things that everyone (theoretically, for them) buys. But no actual range.
So here, we want Spelt flour? Amazon. I’m thinking that the food co-op might have it, but none of the stores near us carry it. We want rosehip tea? Amazon. I am hoping that as I get to know the stores around here better (and spend less time doing circuits of blocks because I’ve missed the turn, or was in the wrong lane) I might start to find the smaller shops, weirder shops, that carry the things we never realised were obscure.
Secondly, I’m listening to a lot of vinyl. Really a lot. Because it’s the only music I’ve got on hand. And I’m pleased to say the Technics SL-6 is doing okay. One of the pleasing things about it is that because it’s servo-tracked, when the records are scratched (which is the case with some of my battered old vinyl) it happily tracks correctly. Indeed, some of the skips I’ve got used to hearing have disappeared.
I did wonder if I’d miss the stylus-on-record part of the process, and I kinda do, and I kinda don’t. While I’m using vinyl as my primary means of listening to music, the convenience of closing the lid and pressing play is quite nice.
Thirdly, I am missing Bristol’s vegetarian range of foods. Most cafés / restaurants have a really limited range of vegetarian dishes. It kind of feels like the UK did 10 years ago. Most places have something, but not necessarily something good or interesting. The thing is, good vegetarian food can be awesome, it can have complex, layered flavours and interesting textures.
Most places here seem to feel that some kind of basic cheese based dish covers the veggie base, and that’s all they need to do. Which is a real shame.
Thankfully, cooking at home covers a lot of that, because we’ve been cooking a long time and can rustle up some pretty ace foods :)